Fireworks
by Neko-chan WE3
Summary: IT's New Years Eve. Look there go the fireworks. Stream, boom, flash, fizzle. Look, their gone. How sad, too bad. SLASH


Zuko settled in to watch the fireworks. His sister and her friends were a safe distance away and Aangs friends were close enough that they wouldn't accuse him of molestation. And Jet and Haru were…

…somewhere.

Zuko didn't really want to know. Aang clung just a bit tighter when the fireworks started, and that was nice. The colors spiraled into the dark before exploding into fragments against the sky. The heavy booms thudded next to his heart and crashed against the buildings and rumbled through the sky like thunder. Screamers tore through the smoke, wailing like the tortured souls of hell. They scattered across the dark backdrop of the sky before sizzling out of existence.

Suddenly fireworks were morbid, imitating humanity, exploding into life with a blaze of glory before fading into the cold unforgiving expanse of time. Everyone had come together, not to celebrate the New Year as they pretended, but to celebrate their own mortality and another year they didn't fade away.

The light reflecting off of Aangs head reminded Zuko that some fade faster then others and he held Aang just a little closer. The smaller boy smiled in thanks at the added warmth. Katara's glare got just a little colder.

Later, after a depressing finale that Zuko couldn't take his eyes off of, they found their missing members and started home. Ty Lee and Katara somehow or other managed to get their ragtag group of acquaintances, for lack of a better word, to link arms and skip. They made it about three feet before most of the others broke away and scattered to walk at their own pace. Ty Lee dragged the remainders along, with Toph squawking at every speed change and sudden turn and Aang screaming at every minor obstacle and Katara laughing between the two younger ones.

Aang eventually broke away from them as well trailing back to Zuko, proclaiming that his hands were cold and Zuko was a walking furnace while he tangled their fingers together. No one questioned why he didn't choose one of the Fire Nation females. Really, they didn't even need the excuse for the two boys to hold hands.

They walked down the street, with happy friends in front and friends in love behind. Their entire conversation was in the brush of shoulders and in meaningful glances. An eyebrow for inquiry, a squeeze for explanation, a gentle brush for forgiveness.

Streetlights provided windows into this unspoken conversation. Brief snapshots into a world of understanding that few can dream, of let alone understand.

It was between these windows, hidden behind the kind wall of darkness, that Aang pulled Zuko into a soft, chaste kiss. They both knew it could be pushed, like a firework, towards the sky to shatter like all the rest. Zuko pulled back and Aang smiled, getting exactly what he expected.

But too late, the fuse was lit.

Stream, boom, flash, fizzle.

Authors Note's

Holy monkeys, this was terrible to write. I got this idea while watching fireworks (no cherries Sherlock) and then realized 'Hey, to post this on fan fiction(dot)net it has to be a fan fiction!!' so it turned into this piece of crab cake. I might do this the right way eventually.

Incase you didn't pick up on it (no snark intended) this is AU. In this they are all in high school and Aang is a transfer student that grew up in some overseas place in an orphanage run by monks. Therefore he is bald. He became fast friends with Katara, quickly followed by Sokka. Then Toph was unwillingly adopted into their little family.

When Aang met Zuko they somehow or other managed to get into a blackmailing contest and somewhere along the line they became best friends, and Aang became one of the most feared students at the school. Its ok for them to hold hands or cuddle or sit on each other, because their scary enough that no one cares, besides, their them.

And somewhere along the line Zuko found out that Aang had cancer. In this he's the only one who knows so far.

For some reason I find fireworks spiritual, streetlights romantic, and the idea of Aang with cancer working.

Somebody shoot me now.


End file.
